Persona Q Game Brings Two Sides Together

“Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth” is a role playing, dungeon crawling game for the Nintendo 3DS. It was developed and published by Atlus and was released on November 25, 2014.

The game is a crossover between Persona 3 and Persona 4. While having knowledge of both the games is not a requirement, it is strongly encouraged to at least know one of the games to be able to pick a side to start out with.

Once a player has chosen a side and a difficulty level, they get to put in two names. The first name is the protagonist the player chose to play and the second is the other protagonist.

The story begins with the game’s two teams at their respective high school and a point in time. Persona 4’s team warps to an alternate version Yasogami High School. They do not realize it until they notice the culture festivals attractions are different from their high school. The Persona 3 team warps to a place known as the Velvet Room before ending up at the alternate Yasogami High as well.

No matter which side is taken, both teams will find an entrance to an attraction known as “You in Wonderland.” The teams find a boy and girl known as Zen and Rei. They explain that the attraction is actually a maze that is filled with enemies known as “shadows.” Shadows are the enemies that both teams have faced before. The teams, along with Zen and Rei explore this labyrinth and find stronger enemies known as FOEs. The player has to maneuver around these enemies and not battle them. After the first dungeon is completed, the two teams meet up.

“Persona Q” plays is a role-playing style game where the team has a party of five. The party is put into two row, the front and back rows. It is up to the player to decide who to put in each row. The battle system also rewards a player for finding a weakness of an enemy, if it has one, or getting a critical hit. Doing either of those in battle gives that character a boost. A boost gives a character priority in the turn order and special moves cost zero to cast. The downside is the character can not get hit before the turn starts again.

The “persona” system is where each character can get a persona to assist their main one in battle. The Velvet Room is where personas can be registered and fused to create new personas.

The art style of the game works. The colors are in dark tones, and it makes sense seeing as how both teams are trapped. The character designs are hit or miss. Every character is a miniature version of themselves. This makes the serious characters look silly and almost out of place in this art style.

The music is great in this game. Each team has their own music and it fits the game they are from. Persona 4’s is more upbeat, while Persona 3’s is more rock, and both work well.

“Persona Q” is a great crossover game from two game beloved by fans. Players who have who know one of the two sides will have a better experience to the game.